Saturday, August 11, 2007

Shopping in Tongues Part II

So by now you've learned about the little "ask the lady behind the counter for what you want" shops here in Russia covered in Part I, now on to the other types of shops here in Saint Petersburg. These other stores are very much like markets on planet America only they come in many shapes and sizes. There are two big chains here. One is called Lenta, which interestingly enough means "tape" in Russian (haven't figured that one out yet), and a store called Okay, which translates "Okay." Both of these stores have sluffed off the cozy idea of piling into a tiny little shop and waiting in line while the tzarina of the establishment gets each person's items one at a time. No, these "shops" are quite different. We passed a Lenta on our way into town when we arrived three weeks ago. Our driver, Planton who had been to America several years ago pointed to the store and said Eto kak Wal-Mart. I'm not even going to translate that because it should be obvious.

Yes, Lenta and Okay are not "supermarkets." They're geepermarketi, which translates "hypermarkets." And, no, they're not called that because everyone inside is excited all of the time. They're called that because they sell a bunch of "stuff." Yes, Russia too has entered the realm of cheaply made goodies produced somewhere in the orient. I'm not kidding. I bought something at Okay last week that was made in Japan that must have had instructions in close to 40 languages, with the English instructions being so outrageous one would assume that some comic genius wrote them. But I digress.

Anyway, at Lenta, Okay and other lesser but similar shops, one does not ask anyone for anything with the exception of the butcher's counter. The layout is very similar to big stores on planet America, but with just a few differences. First, there's the process of checking one's bags. So many people use public transportation over here that it's very common for one to have bags from other shops on his person when he enters the store. To remedy the hassle of one having to carry his bags through the store (and to thwart the temptation to steal), there are lockers setup that have keys in them, free to use. One simply puts his bags into the locker, locks the locker and takes the key with him. Don't worry, the key can only be removed from the locker when it is locked, so no one can steal the key. The other major difference that one would notice is the shopping carts. While they look the same they don't operate exactly the same. On Russian shopping carts all four wheels turn 360 degrees, not just the front ones. This is in some ways handy, and in some ways annoying. It's handy in that if one has to get out of someone else's way, he just slides his cart left or right without convoluted maneuvering that's often more difficult than docking an aircraft carrier. But it's annoying in that unless all four wheels are perfectly aligned (and they never are) the thing wonders all over the place. I can't begin to tell you how many people I've crashed into with my cart.

Upon entering the shopping area things are pretty much the same with one minor exception; almost everything is in Russia. I say almost everything, because there are a number of western products available, and quite often major companies are not interested in contextualizing their logos. So there are bags of potato chips that have Lays written on the top, however all of the ingredients are in Russian. There are boxes of Cocoa Puffs, but again with Russian ingredients.

In some ways this kind of shopping is easier, but in some ways it's more confusing. It's nice to be able to take my time and examine the various products. But sometimes the choices are so many that I'm not sure what to choose. The little shop on the corner has 3 different types of bread. Okay had over 50. But then there's also the problem of still not knowing what everything is even when I'm looking at it. Trust me, "stuffed capers" is not one of the first words one learns in Russian when he studies the language.

Enough already, let me fast forward a bit.

So I did my shopping, loaded up the basket and headed for the checkout stand. Just like home, a line forms behind a moving conveyor belt with various trinkets to the left and to the right. There's candy, lighters, flashlights, etc. There were packages of dried squid, which I thought was really nifty. I thought before I ever went that checking out was going to be the easy part. After suffering under the tyranny of the dragon lady at the corner shop I thought this experience would be pain free. "What could possibly go wrong?" I asked myself. "She'll just ring up the items, tell me the total, I'll pay and be on my way." Not exactly.

Like I would in America, I unloaded my cart onto the moving belt. Immediately the lady asked me a question, which I didn't understand. I was perplexed. "Why is she asking me a question?" I thought. "There's no need for all of that. Just ring up my stuff and I'll pay you." Well, she kept asking me the same question, and I had no idea (nor do I to this day) what she was asking me. I had already presented her with my lovely shoppers card. I had already told her that I needed three bags (In Russia you have to pay for your plastic bags). Frustrated she began ringing up my items, and I began bagging them. Total time rolled around, 585 roubles, about $23. I handed the lady a 1000 rouble bill. She immediately showed a look of consternation on her face and asked me if I had any smaller bills, which I didn't. For some reason over here the ATM machines always give out 500 and 1000 rouble bills, and people who run shops always get mad when people try to spend them. Banks don't like to exchange larger bills for smaller bills for people because there's no profit in it for them, and a store certainly won't do it for free. So my cashier friend wearily had to take out four 100 rouble bills along with a 10 and a 5 rouble coin. I felt so sorry for the extra stress of counting I had to put upon her. Thus ended my shopping extravaganza...so I thought.

I've failed to mention one little detail. Remember, we don't own a car over here. We take public transportation everywhere we go. Normally when I've stopped by the corner shop on the way home I'm ever mindful of the fact that I'm traveling via foot and only need to get what I can carry. Also, standing at the front of a line of tired, hot and frustrated Russians as I jabber away in some kind of Tarzan tongue to Mrs. Hitler behind the counter is also a great way to keep from buying too much. But at places like Lenta and Okay it's easy to get lost in the moment. There's just so much stuff, and there's a shopping cart just waiting to be filled. As it turned out I had filled my cart a wee bit too much and now had three rather filled bags along with the bag that I had brought into the store in my locker. I now had to carry all of those bags to the metro station, ride four stops and then walk home from the metro near our apartment. I learned my lesson quickly.

So shopping this way has it's pluses and minuses. Recently we've discovered a good store close to our apartment that I think will become our new main grocery shop. It's a "pick your own items yourself" kind of store, but it's much much smaller than the mega marts. While it's a couple of roubles cheaper on some items, it's, in most cases, not worth the time and the cost of the metro ride to travel to Okay.

So there's shopping life in St. Petersburg. There's so much more that could be said, but I won't bore you.

1 comment:

Grace said...

Apart from the language issue, that sounds a lot like my shopping experiences in England, including paying for plastic bags (and trying to guess how many you need) and then carrying them all on the public transport and walking, ugh. I always hated having to buy milk for that reason - just so heavy! My mom bought me a large upright shopping bag with wheels, but I usually didn't want to use it because only old women used them. My friends made fun of my embarrassing bag, though they were also a bit envious of how it made walking with groceries easier.

I ended up doing my shopping with a handbasket instead of a shopping cart, because it helped me better judge how much I would be willing to carry home. And then, on a couple of rare occasions, I splurged and took a taxi home with my loot.

But sigh, one of the things I missed most about home was having a car with its big trunk for carrying groceries.